Jon Sumrall demands sharper defense as Florida turns to Campbell

Florida football coach Jon Sumrall reviewed the season opener against FAU and turned the page to Campbell and Week 2 in his weekly press conference on Monday.

Sumrall revisited Florida's season-opening win over FAU after reviewing the film, highlighting Aaron Philo's decision-making, the offense's perimeter blocking and Jadan Baugh's physical running style. He also addressed the defensive mistakes and lack of situational awareness that frustrated him Saturday night.

The Gators' coach provided several injury updates, discussed Florida's aggressive fourth-down approach and explained why Campbell presents a much different challenge than it did last season.

Appreciate y'all being here. I want to start by putting our thoughts and prayers with a good friend of mine, Mike Detillier, a longtime guy who covered sports in the state of Louisiana and worked with Bobby. I did Tulane Tuesdays for a couple of years with Mike and Bobby.

Mike passed really quickly after a couple-week battle with pancreatic cancer and a late diagnosis. He was always good to me. Thoughts and prayers to all the people around him and his family. It's a sad deal.

I'm excited to get back to work and practice today. We had about an hour, a little over an hour, of run-through. There is plenty to clean up from Saturday night's performance. There was some good in there, and there was a lot to correct.

Injury-wise, I would say right now Eric Singleton is highly questionable for this week. Emmanuel is also highly questionable. They have very similar injuries.

They're not out today. They're out at practice some, but not able to participate. We probably won't know their real availability until the middle or later part of the week, but they're definitely not probable as of right now.

Chieca is doing more and more. We'll see what that means for this weekend, but he's back doing more. He's close.

What stood out after reviewing the defensive film?

The biggest thing was situational awareness and football IQ. If it's third-and-1, we can't play nine yards off at corner. That comes with teaching. I thought we were maybe past that, but we can't forget that all those little details matter.

I thought we played hard when I watched it. It wasn't like the guys didn't give good effort. But, as a whole, it was awareness of play sequencing, tempo, how to handle tempo, how to communicate when we're facing tempo, when to challenge, when to play off and when to disguise certain coverage looks. There's a give and take.

Going into the game plan, the two big tasks defensively were managing their tempo and limiting their explosive plays because that's what they were good at. I don't think we managed the tempo well at times. We did limit the explosive plays. They really only had two, by how we count them.

Some of that limiting of explosive plays was because we were playing a little too cautiously and passively by not getting sticky enough at times.

I don't think it was an intent issue. It wasn't an effort issue. It wasn't a desire issue. It was simply that we're young or, in my opinion, untrained in certain spots at certain times. We have to coach better. Our players have to prepare in a manner where they can activate it on the grass on game day.

It wasn't all bad, but it damn sure wasn't all good either. There is a ton of growth that needs to happen within our football team.

At times, they had a good call against something we had going. Hats off to them. I really think that quarterback is a good football player. He creates, extends, has good pocket awareness and delivers the ball on time. He's tough and a good runner.

On the one he scored on in the run game, they had a good call against the call we had. If we had known that was what they were going to do, we probably would have liked a different call. I put that call in. That wasn't Brad White. I was like, "Brad, let's do this right here," and then it hit. Don't put that on Brad. That one is on me.

How do you correct overconfidence without hurting the team's confidence?

I want to be careful here. I just think you have to show up with a chip on your shoulder every day. You can never assume anything. I don't care who you're playing. As soon as you get complacent or overconfident, this game will humble you really, really fast.

Our guys have to understand each and every day — and that's everybody in our building, me included — that every seven days you're either going to be promoted or exposed. You're going to get exposed if you are not ridiculously dialed in.

I don't think anybody believes he's the best player in the country yet. I just think maybe we were a little too relaxed in our mindset and attention to detail at times. It could be how to play a certain call, down-and-distance awareness or what the offensive split and spacing are telling me.

When they got into condensed sets, we knew there were going to be stick routes. There were a couple of times when they ran stick routes, and we were nowhere to be seen near the receiver. There are other times when you give some of that stuff up. There is a give and take. You can't take everything away.

But we have to understand when to play more connected and attached in coverage. Our guys are going to improve. I promise you that. They're either going to improve, or I'm going to lose my mind trying to help them.

What is the value of playing a program from a lower level?

When I was at San Diego, we were non-scholarship. They still are. We beat scholarship teams. We beat Northern Colorado and Cal Poly, and we beat a lot of people who had 63 scholarships. We had none. Everybody was a walk-on.

Football players are football players. I don't look at one team and say, "Well, they've got this or they've got that." You have to earn it.

I think those opportunities are good for everybody, but I have a lot of respect for Campbell. I coached against Campbell, and they kicked my butt one time. I think it was 2010. They ran the option up and down the field on me. I've been to Buies Creek and gotten my butt kicked.

Why didn't Florida produce more pressure and sacks against FAU?

That's a good question. It was a combination of things. At times, they were getting the ball out quickly. At times, we didn't get off a block. Sometimes the quarterback extended plays with his feet. Sometimes we just didn't finish. We were really, really close and didn't finish.

We had several opportunities and didn't quite get it done the way we needed to. We've got to continue working on that. I thought we could have strained a little bit harder in certain scenarios. Each play was a little unique, but there was a combination of things that created the lack of sack production.

We were close to creating several more and didn't quite finish at the top of the pocket.

Which position groups stood out after you watched the film?

I was really fired up about our perimeter blocking. I wouldn't say that was just the receivers. It was the receivers and tight ends. On one of the perimeter run plays, you saw Amir Jackson, Bailey Stockton and VB in there. You saw some guys getting after people in the run game on the perimeter. That fired me up.

When your receivers and tight ends block like that, it usually promotes good football and a good running game. I was pleased with that.

I thought our offensive line played solidly. I wouldn't say they've arrived or that we're elite, but it looked like a well-coached, cohesive unit that played trained.

I thought our inside linebackers played solidly. I expect that from them, but they didn't play poorly by any stretch of the imagination.

I thought D.J. Coleman and Bryce Thornton both played pretty well. Anytime you're new and everybody is new with each other, there are a lot of unknowns. I thought all those groups played well.

The running back room also showed its depth. Obviously, No. 13 did what he does. Duke did some nice things. I think London Montgomery is a good football player, and B-Lou did some good things. Pryor was available and played a couple of snaps but didn't play many. He didn't feel like he could give it a full go. He should be back this week, but I don't know. We'll see how he responds.

How did Aaron Philo perform after reviewing the film?

I thought he made really good decisions with the football. The interception was not on him. That ball was very catchable and should have been a completion. He operated at a high level, communicated with confidence at the line of scrimmage and led.

I thought he knew when to tuck it and go a couple of times. Obviously, he scored on the one fourth down. On the other one, we were in third-and-long, and he scrambled to get it to fourth-and-inches or fourth-and-1. We snuck it on fourth down at midfield.

I thought he made good decisions for the most part. He wasn't perfect, but he played clean football and operated at a high level. The ball came out a little funky once or twice on shorter throws. I thought he threw the downfield balls really well.

The go ball to TJ was a really good throw. The one to Dallas on the comeback to our sideline early in the game was a nice throw. I thought he made some really quality throws and good decisions with the football.

How does Florida's offense put defenders in conflict?

What we do offensively and what our scheme presents is it threatens every area of the grass, vertically and horizontally. There could be a run play to one side and a pass play to the other. Which one do you want to defend? Defend them both.

There is a lot to manage for a defensive play caller and a lot of eye-violation issues that can be created when you're a second- or third-level defender. They put you in conflict a lot. It puts a lot of stress on the defense, and we have to continue doing that.

What did you think of the late goal-line stand?

I was pleased. I don't ever want to let anybody score. I wasn't pleased that they got down there the way they did. But our guys rose up and didn't just look at the scoreboard and say, "If they score this touchdown, we're still going to win."

They said, "No, we're not going to let them in."

It was a great play by Brendan Bett down there to fight, get off the block, tear off and make the play. I appreciate that they continued to play.

What caused Harrison Moore's snapping problems?

He had five bad snaps. Four of the five were on the same exact type of block. When you're playing center, you have to snap the football. That's important. But then you also have to block after you snap it.

We looked at the plays where he had the issue, and four of the five involved the exact same block. I'll say this for Harrison: He takes a lot of pride in his work. I would be out here during the summer at 4 in the afternoon. I'd walk onto my balcony to take a phone call or something and look out, and he would be out there with T.J. Shanahan doing extra snaps.

Most of the time, he was doing them while working on pass sets. Four of his five bad snaps came on back blocks in the run game. I said, "Hey, you probably need to start taking extra snaps while working on back blocks, not pass sets."

Trust me, we're very aware of that. I was pissed off. So was Buster. So was Phil multiple times. We'll get it cleaned up. Harrison takes a lot of pride in his craft and will get that corrected.

Did you enjoy not having to use the punter?

I did. I would love never to punt. I love Alec Clark. He's a great holder. He might be as good of a holder as he is a punter, and he's a pretty good punter. But, yeah, I don't care if I ever see him play.

Now, we may have to get his scholarship and NIL money back if he doesn't play. No (laughs). He's a good player, and we're going to need him. But it's fun not to have to punt. That's enjoyable. That's a fun night.

How clean was the offensive line's performance?

We had a false start, and the snaps weren't great at times. Those were the five snaps we talked about. For the most part, I thought we looked organized, prepared and targeted things well. There wasn't a whole lot of, "Why is that guy going the wrong way?" It was pretty clean.

There were a couple of times when it was, "You have to protect inside leverage here, and you got beat inside. You've got to do a better job." There may have been some hand-placement issues. But, for the most part, we functioned like a competent football team on the line.

It wasn't elite by any stretch of the imagination. It was competent football. We've got to continue getting better.

How did Florida's offensive tackles grade out?

I thought they played pretty well. I don't have the exact grades in front of me, but they played well. What we do helps them. We're going to run the football, put the ball on the perimeter and use play-action.

We're not going to put them in 50 drop-back passes a game where guys can tee off. I thought Buster called the game in a way that managed what they have to do well for them. But they're getting better. They're all getting better.

I thought Bryce played well. I thought Emeka played well. That was Dice's first game action here. He went in at left tackle, and I thought he played pretty well. That was exciting to see.

Who makes Florida's fourth-down decisions?

I make the decision about whether we go for it. I don't let somebody else make those calls.

We use analytics. John Donovan is on our staff. He's a former coordinator in college football and the NFL and a really good football coach. John helps me with all our in-game situational analytics. He's on the headset and will say, "Coach, it says fourth-and-7 to go here."

I'm like, "All right, we're going to go for it. Fourth-and-4, not fourth-and-7." I make the decision. We use the book everybody uses, but I don't just go by the book. I use some instinct, too.

I like to be aggressive. I think if you coach with an aggressive mindset, your guys will play with that mindset over time. If you coach passively, they're going to play passively. We're going to be fairly aggressive and calculating with our fourth-down opportunities.

Once we're outside our own 40-yard line, if it's fourth-and-1 and you're going to place a bet, you should probably bet on Florida going for it a lot. A lot of times, it's about the matchup. How is the other team's offense playing? What's the risk? How is our defense playing? There are a lot of things that go into it, but we're going to be confident.

Those are things we discuss well before Saturday. I looked at the analytics and the matchup all week. Sometimes you take the weather into account. You take your kicking game and their kicking game into account.

John helps with the decision. Buster is also informed before each drive about my thought process, and I make sure he's comfortable with that so he knows how to call third downs.

If I tell him, "Hey, on fourth-and-2, it's a go here," then being in third-and-4 gives him different options for calling certain types of plays. We try to sequence our plays well ahead of schedule so the guys understand how we want to play that drive.

Sometimes I'll tell him on first down, "Hey, if you get it to fourth-and-3 here, it's a go. Run it on third down."

Were you planning to kick a field goal before the fourth-down touchdown?

I told Buster, "Can we get seven or eight yards here to kick a more manageable field goal?" I'm glad Durkin made a 53-yarder, but I'd like to see if he can make a 40-yarder or a 35-yarder. Then, when he busted that run and we got to the 3-yard line, I'm like, "All right, let's go."

I had made up my mind that, if we got inside the 5 on that play, we were going to go for it. But I didn't think we were going to get inside the 5 because I was hoping to get enough back to kick a more manageable field goal.

Do you enjoy the game-management aspect of coaching?

I love it. I absolutely love it. What makes it fun is that you have to think fast, make quick decisions and be confident in those decisions. You can't second-guess yourself.

They're not always going to go right. I'll probably go for it on fourth down at some point this year and not get it. That's life. To me, that's part of what makes the game fun. You have to be prepared to make quick, calculated decisions that put your team in a position to be successful.

What are the injury updates on the other unavailable players?

Eagan (Boyer) should be back this week. He was at practice today and active. I think tomorrow is going to be full-go, but I'll check with Paul. I'll know today at 2:30 when I meet with Paul again about all our injury-report stuff.

Davian (Groce), I think, will be down for at least another week. It's nothing major, just a little bit of a back strain.

How did Kanye Clark perform while playing 72 snaps?

He did some really nice things. They did a nice job on the slot fade toward the south end zone and our sideline. On the other one going the other way, he got a little grabby, and they made a good throw and catch.

I thought he was active and leveraged the football pretty well. It's knowing whether I'm supposed to be outside of No. 2 or inside of No. 2 on certain box calls or in the screen game because they were a pretty good perimeter-screen team coming into the game.

We're probably going to roll some guys in there a little bit more to spell him. I thought I might have overplayed him from a snap-count standpoint. Alfonzo Allen, Lagonza Hayward and D.J. Coleman can all play down there. We need to build a little more depth and game experience there this week.

What stands out about Campbell's offense?

I'll tell you what, we haven't talked enough about them. We've talked a lot about our game last week. I have a lot of respect for this football team. They're well coached and have improved a ton from last year.

After watching their first game and then the second tape we got yesterday afternoon, I told our staff we shouldn't even watch last year's film. It's a waste of time. They're a totally different football team. They're averaging more than 500 yards a game right now. The quarterback is playing at a really high level. They've got really quality football players, and it's a challenge.

They didn't have the year they wanted last year from a record standpoint. But you can already tell there has been a shift within their football team in how they're playing. It has happened quickly from Year 1 to Year 2 with that coaching staff. We have a lot of respect for who they are and what they're doing.

How do you keep the team from looking ahead to Ole Miss?

That's so far away. That's so far away from me. I want to get better this week against Campbell, and then I hope that will help us later in the year.

I watched the game. Ole Miss is really good. I got my ass beat by Ole Miss twice last year. The ball comes out quickly from the quarterback. He has a really good arm, and they're a good football team.

But we've got to improve this week and focus on the theme for our football team: Be where your feet are. Be present all day Monday. I told our guys, "You want to be a pro football player? Raise your hand." Everybody says he wants to be one. Well, you don't have school today because it's Labor Day, so come back and do extra football work on your own if you want to be great.

We only get our four hours, but if you really care about being great, we've got a lot of work to do. I watched Ole Miss. They're really good. Everybody in our league is really good. Every time you strap up in the SEC, you know what you're going to get.

What challenge does Campbell's up-tempo offense present?

I've coached against Matt Kubik a couple of times. I believe the last time was when he was at Louisiana-Monroe and I was the head coach at Troy. I have a lot of respect for him. I love that you looked up who their offensive coordinator was. Matt is a really good football coach and presents a lot of challenges.

He does some really good things. They're going to stress us with some rules this week. They always do. It's another good test of how to get lined up, how to leverage the football from a perimeter standpoint and how to stay on top.

It's going to force us to communicate and take a step forward with situational awareness. That could mean down and distance, formation, split, spacing, the backfield set or where the tight end is aligned. All those things matter.

The biggest improvement we have to make defensively, like I said earlier, is not about whether our guys played hard. I've watched the tape a couple of times, and I think they care and play hard. I don't know that we played with great awareness or attention to detail.

At times, there is also a difference between playing hard and straining. You can play hard and give great effort, but straining to me is going two steps past that. We've got to go those extra steps. Matt and their offense will stress and challenge us. They do some good things, so we have to be prepared.

What stands out about Jadan Baugh when watching him at field level?

He is a powerful, sudden, violent runner who can stick his foot in the ground. The most impressive part of his long run to me was at the end, when he stopped on a dime and made two guys miss.

Then there was the downfield blocking. Go back and watch that play. Watch VB and Bailey Stockton, and then watch Luke Harpring come from 40 yards away to get downfield and try to help block. That was really fun.

Jadan is a good football player. He catches the ball well, even though he didn't have any catches the other night. That wasn't by design. We're going to throw him the football some. He runs with such conviction. You feel his runs. He's a violent runner who has gotten even better at running north and south.

When I got here and watched the tape, the one thing I talked to him about improving was that I thought he became a little too much of a cutter at times. It was like, "Dude, you're a big, physical man. Go that way, and you're going to be hard to deal with."

I think he has become more decisive. Make one cut and go. I'm really, really glad he's on our football team. I told him before the game Saturday night, "Thank you for staying here." I shared that with y'all after the game. I'm very glad he's still a Florida Gator. He's fun to watch play, and I'm glad he's on our football team.